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Kirby's Dream Land 2

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One day, the evil Dark Matter causes the disappearance of the Rainbow Bridges connecting the setting of the game, the Rainbow Islands, and possesses King Dedede in order to transform Dream Land into a Dark World. Kirby, along with some new friends, sets off to save Dream Land and the Rainbow Islands.

And so begins Kirby's Dream Land 2 (Hoshi no Kirby 2 in Japan) for the Game Boy, the first game in a sub-series of the Kirby franchise colloquially known as the "Dark Matter Trilogy" (the others being Kirby's Dream Land 3 and Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards). Directed by Shinichi Shimomura instead of series creator Masahiro Sakurai, the gameplay is mostly the same as the previous two games in the series, with Kirby still being able to run, jump, float, and inhale enemies to copy abilities if they have one. However, the number of abilities in this game are reduced from the great variety from Kirby's Adventure. To compensate, Dream Land 2 introduces a new mechanic: the animal friends. They are Rick the hamster, who can't fly, but runs fast and is unaffected by ice; Kine the fish, who can swim against water currents but hops slowly on land; and Coo the owl, who can fly against wind currents. The animal friends can be rescued from certain rooms, and using a Copy Ability while riding an animal friend creates a different attack. Rounding out the cast is Gooey, a friendly blob made from the same stuff as the main villain. Gooey only appears if you already have an animal friend that would be rescued otherwise (most of the time; rarely, either a girl named Chao (Japanese version) or a female Gooey (English version) will pop from the bag and act as a 1UP).

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Also central to the game are the Rainbow Drops. There is one in each level (world) of the game, and each one is contained in a room that is very well hidden, requiring puzzle solving to obtain. While collecting the Rainbow Drops is optional, they are key to defeating the Big Bad, as collecting all seven of them allows access the True Final Boss against Dark Matter itself. This puzzle solving combined with ability use would become another staple of the trilogy.

The game was one of a select number of games enhanced by the SNESSuper Game Boy peripheral, giving it a color palette and special border.

Blackout Basement: Some rooms in the game are dark, and the only way to light up these rooms is to use Kine's Spark power to make a lightbulb and light the room. This also reveals hidden doors to rooms.

The Cameo: In the Japanese version, Gooey would randomly be replaced by a human girl. This girl is Chao, a character from the Japanese game Famicom Mukashibanashi: Yūyūki. In localization, Chao was replaced by a female Gooey. Interestingly, Chao (along with Goku) appears in the sequel.

Color Wash: When playing on a Super Game Boy, this trope comes into play, and it's done rather effectively given the color motif of this game. Each world uses a palette based around a specific color of the rainbow. Grass Land is yellow, Big Forest is green, Ripple Field is blue, Iceberg is indigo (or at least the closest the SGB could get to indigo while still looking appealing), Red Canyon is, well, take a guess, Cloudy Park is orange, and Dark Castle is violet. Adding onto this, the King Dedede battle uses black and pink, reflecting the conflict between Kirby and Dark Matter, while the battle against Dark Matter himself uses a blue-gray hue. The world selection screen goes as far as to change tint depending on what Rainbow Island the player is hovering over!

Guide Dang It!: Even after clearing every stage, collecting all the Rainbow Drops, and defeating the True Final Boss, you'll only be at around 93% complete. It turns out you need to go back into the boss doors of the first six worlds and clear the special Bonus stages there with a Perfect score. And even after THAT, you won't reach 100% completion unless you find the girl that will only appear randomly where Gooey normally appears. Nowhere in the game does it explicitly tell you, or hint at, any of this.

High-Altitude Battle: The first phase of the Dark Matter battle has you battle in the atmosphere/in space.

Land, Sea, Sky: Each of the three animal friends represent one of these three types; Rick being Land, Coo being Sky, and Kine being Sea.

Leitmotif: Each animal friend has one which becomes the background music if you're riding him.

Level in Reverse: The fourth, fifth, and sixth levels of Dark Castle are literally mirrored (and harder) versions of the first, second, and third levels respectively. Part of levels 3 and 6 are maze-like Autoscrolling Levels, and getting through the latter without getting trapped and crushed between the wall and screen edge requires memorizing the path from the former.

Meaningful Name: The three animal friends have names which are derived from Japanese Kanji which correspond to their specialties. Rick is derived from "riku" for "land". Kine is derived from "kai" for "sea". Coo is derived from "kuu" for "sky".

One-Winged Angel: Dark Matter initially takes the form of a swordsman, but after that form is defeated, it turns into the more recognizable Oculothorax.

Sword Fight: Dark Matter's first form takes the shape of a shadowy swordsman to go up against Kirby and the Rainbow Sword.

Tennis Boss: One way Kirby can beat Dark Matter is to reflect its attacks back at it with the Rainbow Sword. It deals four times more damage than hitting Dark Matter directly and it gives Kirby some distance.

Time-Limit Boss: The second form of the True Final Boss must be defeated quickly as both it and Kirby are descending into the atmosphere. If they begin reentry, Kirby starts to take damage from the heat until he dies.

True Final Boss: Dark Matter, only faced if all the Rainbow Drops are collected.

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